March 6, 2010

Seven soups every Saturday: Asian soup recipes

When I was a little girl, Asian soup meant Chinese soup, and that meant wonton soup, one of the "exotic" treats we were allowed on Friday night dinners at the local suburban Chinese restaurant. These days, I've switched allegiances, to hot-and-sour soup and tom yom koong, the fiery Thai shrimp and chile broth that can clear your sinuses from across the room. I'm almost equally in love with miso soup, curried laksa, and Japanese soup noodles.

Cookin' Canuck, Asian soups are an entirely different flavor profile than the soups I grew up with, and I love them for the same reason -- the combination of light and tart and spicy.

Alta, the cups were a promotional item made by Lipton Soup Company in the 1950s. I have collected 30 of them over the years. They were sold in sets of 6, in 6 different colors, though I have 7 different colors. Try eBay.

Judy, that's a tough decision!

Pam, if I had to pick just one Asian soup to have for the rest of my life, it would be tom yom. The spicy tartness just tastes perfect to me.

Wonderful new blog Lydia! I'm a great fan of soup and can't wait to get stuck into these recipes as soon as we get anything approaching soup-weather in my corner of the globe (today it is an unspeakably hot 39C/102F and I can barely move let alone contemplate cooking or eating soup, or anything else). I also love and collect ceramics and it is a treat seeing all your beautiful bowls and containers.

I l-o-v-e- those retro soup cups! I'm old enough to remember them. ;-) How fun to see them (great photo!). I love hot and sour soups, and anything Thai with coconut milk. Spicy, sweet, salty and sour is my favorite combo.

Hi Lydia! What a great idea for a blog! I think I could live off of soup, especially if I could eat it from one of your cool cups. I look forward to checking back often to see what other delicious soups you're serving up.